Ron Nagle

San Francisco artist Ron Nagle has made ceramic art since the days of the California Clay Movement in the mid-1960s. Under-recognized because he uses a minority art form and a small format, Ron Nagle is nevertheless a master of this delicate art, which has recently become fashionable. Nagle pioneered the ironic ambiguity we see now among art, design, and decoration (like the Italian Memphis Group’s designs) — and even pastry and jewelry. His time has arrived.

text by JEFF RIAN
photography by DANIEL TRESE

Copyright Ron Nagle and courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery, New York and Los Angeles

 

Long Good Friday, 2015, ceramic, porcelain, glaze, catalyzed polyurethane and epoxy resin, 3.75 x 2.5 x 3.75 inches

Ron Nagle (b. 1939) was a ceramics major in college who went on to become one of the innovators of contemporary ceramics, best known as the California Clay Movement…